In which a despondent Mr. Golyadkin, burdened by a sodden greatcoat and the gnawing loss of a letter, seeks refuge behind a woodstack in the yard of Olsufy Ivanovitch’s home, only to be invited into a crowded drawing-room amid curious and sympathetic eyes. There, surrounded by an assembly of acquaintances and his unsettling double, he is led reluctantly to face a grave reckoning, concluding a night thick with apprehension and uneasy reconciliation.